Tourism employment exceeds 3 million for the first time before the peak season months

For the first time outside what is traditionally considered the high season, tourism employment has exceeded 3 million people employed. In the second quarter of 2025, the sector recorded 3,024,347 employed workers, an increase of 2% compared to the same period in 2024.

Between April and June 2025, according to data published by Turespaña, tourism-related activities registered 58,563 more employees than in the same quarter of the previous year. During this quarter, employees in the tourism sector accounted for 13.6% of total employment in the Spanish economy.

In addition, the unemployment rate in the tourism sector stood at 8%, 1.2 percentage points lower than the same day of the previous year. In the national economy, the unemployment rate stood at 10.3%.

The number of employees continues to grow

In the second quarter of the year, the main tourism activities experienced growth, except for hotels and restaurants. In this subsector, employment fell by 1.3%, due to the negative evolution of food and beverage services (-0.5%) and accommodation services (-3.5%). In travel agencies, on the other hand, the variation was positive, 8.7%, as in passenger transport (up 4.6%).

The number of employees in the tourism sector during this period amounted to 2,578,949, which is a significant year-on-year increase of 4.2%. This continues the year-on-year increases of the previous sixteen quarters. Increases in the number of employees were seen in passenger transport (8.1%) and in hospitality (1.4%), as well as in other tourism activities (9.9%). In hotels and restaurants, both accommodation services decreased, but food and beverage services increased. Within other tourism activities, travel agencies experienced an increase of 13.1%. The employment rate (salaried/employed) was 85.3%, 1.8 percentage points higher than in the first quarter of the previous year.

Rise in the full day

Employees in the tourism sector on permanent contracts (84.2%) have increased by 4.6% year-on-year, representing the 16th consecutive increase. Furthermore, the number of employees with temporary contracts was up by 2.4%.

In this sense, the temporary employment rate (employees with temporary contracts/total employees) in the tourism sector was 15.8%, 0.3 percentage points lower than in the same period of the previous year. In terms of working hours, full-time employees accounted for 75.2% of all employees, a 4.3% increase.

The number of self-employed workers in the tourism sector stood at 445,398, down 9.3% compared to the same period of the previous year, with decreases in hospitality (-14.5%) and passenger transport (-7.8%) and an increase in other tourism activities (6.3%).

Madrid and Andalusia, the fastest-growing regions

In terms of territorial distribution, the number of employees increased in eleven autonomous communities. Among the main regions, the number of people employed grew in Madrid, by 8.3%, in Andalusia, by 6.5%, in Catalonia, by 2.4%, and in the Canary Islands, by 1.4%, while it fell in Valencia, by 1.3%, and in the Balearic Islands, by 10.7%.

Non official translation